Rosie the Riverter Redux
10.17.12

Senator Kirsten Gillibrand appeared on The Today Show to discuss women’s economic empowerment and the need for a new generation of Rosie The Riveters.

Gillibrand Focuses on Breaks for Women Business Owners
08.22.12

This Tuesday, Senator Kirsten Gillibrand and New York Assemblywoman Grace Meng spoke at an auto mechanic shop about a bill that would extend tax breaks for small businesses. Gillibrand believes it is especially important for women business owners.

“Women business owners have often great ideas for starting businesses but have eight times less capital,” she said. “Our goal is to help businesses reinvest.”

Gillibrand is hopeful that the bill, with bipartisan support, and some likely finagling, will pass through the House and the Senate.

The mechanic shop, The Great Bear Auto Repair and Auto Body Shop on Sanford Avenue owned by Audra Fordin, holds free workshops every month to help women learn about auto repair. Fordin said she was thrilled to host the press conference.

“This would help me be able to buy new equipment,” Fordin said. “We are swimming now; we are not treading water, but we need some help to stay afloat.”

Tester and McCain Unified Against ‘Citizens United’
08.20.12

Montana Senator Jon Tester’s new ad greeted Arizona Senator John McCain as he arrived in Great Falls, Montana, this past Friday, thanking the senator for “standing with Montanans” against the Supreme Court’s ruling in the Citizens United v. FEC case.

The decision, which allows unlimited spending by special interest groups, has been openly criticized by both Tester and McCain.

McCain said it was, “the worst decision of the United States Supreme Court in the 21st Century.”

Tester’s opponent, Representative Dennis Rehberg, supported the ruling, saying it “was the right decision on the part of the Supreme Court.”

According to Tester’s press release, “that’s because Rehberg’s campaign is bankrolled by numerous special interests that have already spent more than $4 million attacking Tester.”

Last year, Rehberg reportedly hid $25,000 in campaign contributions from federal lobbyists. Rehberg has accepted a total of $92,000 from lobbyists this election cycle, making him ninth out of the 435 members of the U.S. House.

Montanans for Tester spokeswoman Alexandra Fetissoff said, “After 12 long years in Washington, Congressman Dennis Rehberg has lost touch with Montana while protecting tax breaks for millionaires and sending jobs overseas.”

Brown Wins Law Enforcement Endorsements
08.15.12

Even in this difficult and tumultuous election year, Senator Sherrod Brown is still winning some victories. Last month, he received the support and endorsement of the Ohio Fraternal Order of Police, and this month he received the backing of the National Troopers Coalition.

Brown is the first Democratic U.S. Senate candidate since 1988 to receive the endorsement of the FOP, Ohio’s largest police union.

FOP President Jay McDonald said Brown has “had our backs … every step of the way,” and endorsing him is the least the FOP could do.

Brown fought hard against Gov. Kasich’s Senate Bill 5, which would have stripped bargaining right for all of Ohio’s state and local government employees, including police officers. Democrats and organized labor worked together to place a referendum on the ballot in November 2011, leading to the law’s repealed.

‘The Hunted Democrat’
08.14.12

With only three months left in the election, Senator Sherrod Brown of Ohio is facing an attack more vicious than in any other state.

According to a Newsweek article that dubs him “The Hunted Democrat,” over the last nine months, spending in the Ohio Senate race by groups such as the Chamber of Commerce, the 60 Plus Association, and Karl Rove’s Crossroads GPS has surpassed $11.5 million.

“I’m disturbed,” Brown told Newsweek. “If it weren’t for all the outside money, this wouldn’t even be a race.”

On the other side, Brown has received only about $3 million from unions, liberal interest groups and Democratic super PACs.

Mandel’s allies have outspent Brown’s 6 to 1; no other competitive Senate race is this lopsided. As a result, the polling gap between the two has shrunk to 7.7 percent, and the winner of this race is not looking so certain anymore.

Gillibrand Raises Funds for Women From ‘Very Red Districts’
08.14.12

Current New York Senator Kirsten Gillibrand is not only running this year for herself, she’s actually campaigning for her sisters in arms.

This Monday she brought together 70 of her biggest donors and asked them for more donations, but not for herself. Gillibrand was raising funds for three other Democrat women who needed the money more.

Gillibrand said the women “come from very red states and very red districts, but these are the kinds of seats that we can actually win, to find that common ground, bring together and move this country forward.”

She believes these women have good shots at unseating their Republican counterparts.

The fundraiser raised more than $100,000 for Christie Vilsack, former first lady in Iowa, running for Iowa’s 4th against Representative Steve King (R-IA); Tammy Duckworth, a veteran of the Iraq war running for Illinois’ 8th against Representative Joe Walsh (R-IL); and Val Demings, a former Orlando police chief running for Florida’s 10th against Representative Daniel Webster (R-FL).

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